Technical Education in NV?

Center for Teaching Excellence

From High Technology Curriculum Initiatives Application Narrative (Grant funded 1/12/2004) (& comments by cl dickinson)

Center for Teaching Excellence

In recent years, financial constraints and budget reductions have seriously limited TMCC's ability to support critical faculty and staff development activities. Increasingly, this loss is threatening the institution's health and vitality. At TMCC, as at other community colleges, most faculty have had little professional training in the instructional methodologies best suited for meeting the needs of a dramatically changing student population. (I Agree) Furthermore, on the average, TMCC faculty members completed their training /education well over 20 years ago. Due to heavy teaching loads and the limited resources of the college, faculty have had very little time or opportunity to learn new methods or to develop new curricula. (Note: I have had to learn and develop everything “from scratch”. I have developed 7 new courses and placed 6 of them on the web) . Because of the rapid advances in technologies, the skills of the faculty are becoming obsolete, while opportunities for training to update essential skills are severely hampered by limited fiscal resources. (I have taken the time and expense necessary to learn & update these skills). This inability to upgrade technical and professional skills diminishes program quality and has a crippling impact on recruitment and retention of students, employability of graduates, and the image the College projects to the community. (Again, I agree).
The problems that TMCC is experiencing have been clearly described in the literature. Among the relevant citations are the following:
"Credentials, where they are necessary, require little or nothing in the way
of professional preparation other than subject matter knowledge or occupational skills and experience. Teachers learn to teach by trial and error, an unguided and lonely experience for the most part. .."
"...the continuous proliferation of new technologies and the unlikely event of a
decrease in this acceleration are reasons to believe that obsolescence among professionals is going to be a continuing problem for organizations."
"...Despite rapid developments in educational technology, teaching methods in postsecondary education remain remarkably traditional."
(“Career” teachers know the “Method’s” & “Pedagogy” of education, but lack “real-world” experience. Especially those with advanced degrees, they have only seen the world through the Educational Institutions lens, whereas those who have experienced life in the “real world” and have now come into “professional education” have to learn an entire new culture plus learn the methods of how to effectively teach )

It is essential to student learning and to increasing the potential for success of TMCC's students to develop expertise in new approaches available through technology. (Especially those students who have grown up with fast paced TV shows, video games and are computer savvy). Multimedia instruction provides the opportunity for faculty to integrate audio, video, graphic and data presentations in their classroom teaching. Presentation software, hypertext, etc. give previously static information more dramatic visual impact. Simulations and video-disk technology allow faculty to bring "live" demonstrations into the classroom and laboratory experience. Computer assisted instruction provides an excellent medium to offer drill and practice to students to assist in reinforcing classroom learning. (I figured this out long ago… and do all of the above in my teaching). TMCC faculty currently do not have the resources to develop the skills or purchase the materials necessary to enrich the experience of our students through technological enhancement. (Again, I believe this is true… however I have managed to do this with the help of several “technological savvy” individuals at the college, and by attending training sessions & seminars, often on my own time and at my own expense). Supplemental instruction, programmed instruction, computer assisted instruction,
effective lectures, small group activities, learning logs, and other methods and interventions are also being used with some success at institutions of higher education. TMCC proposes through the Center for Teaching Excellence to expose faculty and staff to new methods and interventions, to assist them in the application and evaluation of those interventions, and to support them in that process.
The integration of high technology equipment, software and materials into TMCC programs allows the College to develop a modular teaching approach to workforce
development. The use of the new Center for Teaching Excellence will ensure that the infrastructure exists for the continuing acquisition of new knowledge and skills for instructors preparing their students for high technology careers or upgrading their skills to meet state of the art requirements.

(And I would hope that those who would hope to transfer this knowledge would have teaching experience as well as technological experience)

(comments in bold italic by cl dickinson)

posted by cl @ 11:59 PM